Newport Beach Harbor Commission briefed on Harbor and Beaches Master Plan projects

NEWPORT BEACH—It’s budgeting season in Newport Beach. City staff is in the budgeting process for Harbor and Beaches Master Plan projects, which include a few significant proposals in 2020 and 2021 for Newport Beach Harbor. At the March Harbor Commissioner meeting, city staff gave an overview and commissioners reviewed the current master list of projects planned for the harbor and beaches –some which go out as far as 2095 – that require capital funding. Significant projects planned in the near future for the harbor include dredging the Lower Bay to design depth, constructing a bilge pumpout dock/oil collection center at Balboa Yacht Basin, public pier floats maintenance and/or replacement and bulkhead replacement at the American Legion. Planning for the dredging of the Lower Bay began last year and is slated on the master plan project list to begin in 2021 at an estimated net cost of $5.37 million. City staff previously reported an Army Corps survey estimated that over 900,000 cubic yards of sediment has accumulated in the Lower Bay above design depths, causing navigational hazards in the main channel for boaters, particularly at low tide. According to the master plan, the bilge pumpout project is slated to begin construction this year and...